Cooling device



Oct. 6, 1942., R. H. MONEY 7,

COOLING DEVICE Filed March 27, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I

INVENTOR.

7750 2 a Roland H. Money.

Oct. 6, 1942.

R. H. MONEY COOLING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March I 27., 1940 h DN A V w W V @n m W W f W Me. My e Il'llu zez dfifl BY 6 Z EYY 1196 Patented Oct. 6, 1942 COOLING DEVICE Roland H. Money, Mount Healthy, Ohio, assignor to The Croslcy Corporation, Cincinnati, Ohio,

a corporation of Ohio Application March 27, 1940, Serial No. 326,244

6 Claims.

This invention relates to coolers and similar devices where it is desired to cool bottled goods or other articles particularly liquids in containers where the volume of liquid to be cooled is considerable and where it is necessary to extract therefrom a large quantity of sensible heat.

Coolers of this type, particularly bottle coolers, have heretofore been constructed by providing a large tank containing water surrounded by the coils of an evaporating element having a relatively large surface area and requiring a refrigerator unit of considerable capacity in order to extract sufficient heat to maintain the water at the proper temperature. This type of cooler is inefilcient in that the very large volume of water surrounding the bottles or other.articles must have heat extracted therefrom before it will extract heat from the articles. Such a construction is slow-acting unless a circulation for the water is provided and even then the transfer of heat from the articles to the water and from the water to the sides of the tank and to the cooling coils requires a considerable time. Moreover, when the user of such a cooler selects an article therein, such as a bottle of soft drink, he extracts it from the tank in dripping wet condition and must wip it dry before using. Successive extractions of articles in this manner causes water to be splashed and dripped about and creates a nuisance in the vicinity of the cooler which requires continual wiping, mopping and drying to correct.

The present invention overcomes the abovementioned disadvantages and provides a cooler which can accommodate a largeuquantity of artiperature they may be readily removed from the cooler in dry condition.

Advantages of the invention include the provision of a down-draft over the entire articlecontaining volume of th cooler by which the natural tendency of the cold air to fall is utilized and by which articles are cooled from the top downward thereby ensuring a lower temperature at the top of the articles. In the case of bottled soft drinks this is of advantage in that the tops of the bottles are cooled first.

If the bottles have not been exposed sufiiciently long'in the cooler to have all the heat extracted the first drink removed by the user will be cold.

The invention also provides a cooler cabinet of attractive appearance and means at the top thereof by which it may be opened and easy access to the interior may be had. During the time the cooler cabinet is opened the invention utilizes the aforementioned down-draft over the articles to prevent loss of cold air.

Another advantage of the invention is the provision of a cooler in which the heat-extracting unit is controlled both by the temperature of the air stream and by the cold producing unit or evaporator unit. According to the invention the unit is not connected to power or cut in until the temperature of the cooling coil rises to a certain value, preferably above the freezing point of water, nor is it disconnected from power or cut out until the temperature of the air is reduced to the desired point. Thus if the cooler is opened the unit will not commence operation if the evaporator is at a sufficiently low.temperature that heat may be removed from the articles by convection of the circulating air. Yet, once the temperature of the evaporating element is raised to a point where it no longer absorbs the desired quantity of heat from the articles via the air stream the unit will be placed in operation and it will continue to operate until the circulating air has either ceased to absorb heat from the articles or until it has reached a certain predetermined temperature at which the heat-extracting process may properly proceed.

A further advantage of the invention is the provision of a cooling device in which a thorough circulation of air is effected independently of whether or not the door to the cooler is opened and in which bottles, jars or other articles may be placed with facility at points where they will best benefit from the convection currents without substantially interfering with the normal flow of the circulating air.

Still further the invention provides means whereby the articles contained therein are held ready for immediate use and are readily identified and selected when the user opens the cabinet.

Objects of the invention include the elimination of the difficulties encountered with prior cooler constructions and at the. same time securing the advantages above set forth.

The novel features that I consider characteristic of my invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however,

both as to its organization and its method of operation together with additional objects and advantages thereof will best be understood from the following description of a specific embodiment. when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a horizontal section of an illustrative cooler construction taken along line of Fig. 2.

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of such a cooler taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 4.

Figure 3 is a vertical end section along line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and

Figure 4 is a vertical end section taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Before commencin a detailed description of the embodiment disclosed in the present application, I will briefly describe the novel structure of my cooler and its method of operation. An insulated cooler cabinet I is provided with insulated sliding doors 3|, 32 through which access may be had to the interior of the cabinet 40. At one end of the cabinet interior is provided a vertically disposed partition segregating an end space 43 which may be subdivided into communicating compartments 43a 43b, 430. In the lower compartment 430 I'provide the cooling coils of an evaporator 44 and in the intermediate compartment it is of advantage to dispose a motor 45 for driving a fan 46 disposed in an opening 41 in a horizontal partition 48 between the compartments 43b and 43a. The upper compartment 43a communicates at its ends with passages 49 at the top and at each side of the cabinet interior and formed by walls 50 which are provided with apertures 5| disposed so that they are at an angle to the perpendicular. A grill 52 spaced from the bottom 21 of the interior may be provided so that an air circulation space 54 is formed between'the grill and the said bottom or bottom liner 2'! of the cooler. At the lower end of the vertical partition 42 openings 55 are provided through which air may re-enter the lower compartment 430 at the end of the device.

It will be seen from the foregoing brief description that air within the cabinet is circulated by the fan through compartment 43a, passages 49 and is directed downwardly through apertures 5| over the contents of the cooler. The returning air flows through the grill 52 through passages 54 and 55 back into the lower portion 430 of the chamber 43.

With this general description I shall proceed to a more detailed disclosure of a specific example of my invention.

The cooler cabinet proper is indicated generally at ID and is provided with side walls II and I2,

end walls l3 and I4 and a bottom wall l5 of insu' lating material. The bottom insulation I5 may be conveniently built around frame and supporting .members I6, I and I8 and the entire cabinet construction provided with outer end casings 2| and 22, the lower portions of which are bent at right angles thereto as at IS in order to provide a support for the cabinet upon a suitable base member 23 The outer side portions may be provided with caa'ng members 23 and 24 and the bottom provided with a horizontal casing member 25. The interior of the cabinet may be provided with side liners 26 and bottom liner 21 secured together with an overlapping joint as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4. At the top edges of the side walls is provided a frame 23 resting on gaskets 23 and 30 and in this frame is provided sliding doors 3| and 32 having handles 33 and 34-. These doors may e adapted to slide in guides 35 and 36 fixed to the inner side of the frame member 28.

Secured to a suitable bracket which in the embodiment shown is integral with the vertical partition 42 but is at right angles thereto, is a switch 31 adapted to coact with the bottom of the sliding door 32 so that when the door is opened pressure on the switch may be released to complete a circuit through wires 39 connected to the power supply and light a lamp 38 suitably mounted within the chamber 43a. A transparent or translucent glass 6| is mounted in partition 42 adjacent the lamp 38 in order to permit the light from the lamp to be admitted into the interior chamber 40 of the cooler cabinet.

The above construction provides an insulated chamber 40 disposed above a compartment 4| within which refrigerating mechanism may be disposed as will hereinafter be explained. As hereinbefore briefly described, the inner chamber 40 is divided by a partition 42 so that a compartment 43 is formed at the end thereof with intercommunicating sections for housing the evaporator 44, the motor 45 and fan 46, the latter ex tending through an aperture 41 in the partition 48 between the upper sub-compartment 43a and the intermediate compartment 43b.

At the upper ends of vertical partition 42 are provided apertures 42a opening into passageways 49 which may be conveniently formed by members 50 preferably of metal, bent asindicated in Fig. 3. These members have one face bent at an angle to the perpendicular and contain apertures 5| disposed so that air currents flowing through passageways 49 may be directed downwardly into the interior of chamber 40.

Above the bottom inner liner 21 is disposed a horizontal grill 52 at the sides of which straps 53 are securedand bent in such fashion as to elevate the grill 52, which is in the nature of a false bottom, above the bottom liner 21 to provide a passageway 54. In the bottom portion of the vertical partition 42 are provided openings 55 communicating with the passageway 54 and the bottom or lower chamber 430 in which the evaporating element 44 is disposed.

In order to enable the contents of the chamber 40 to be separated, vertical grill members or spacers 56 may be provided. These may be slid into place by aligning them with cut out portions 51 in brackets 58 secured to the inner liner 26.

In the event the user desires to insert articles in the cooler which are not elongated, as are bottles, and which are desired to be kept elevated from the lower grill or false bottom and kept out of the way of any articles to be placed thereon, I provide sliding shelves 59 designed to slide longitudinally on the top portions of brackets 58. In order to permit these shelves to be inserted from the top of the cooler and to clear the walls 50 of the passageways 49 I make these shelves articulated, the separate members being held together by U-shaped clamps 63 at their adjacent end portions and links 6!] connecting adjacent portions of their horizontal inner sides. This permits the shelves to be raised upwardly at the middle and the component parts to assume an 7 angle such that they may be placed in and removed from their operative position for sliding along the brackets 58.

The refrigerating mechanism within the lower chamber 4| may comprise a compressor 65, the discharge line 6! of which connects with a condenser 16 at 68. A conduit 69 is connected at the lower end of the condenser as at to a filter 1| from which a capillary tube 12 may be led over a suitable path through a cutout portion H in the side wall l2 of the insulated cabinet. This cut out may be closed by a member 65 preferably arranged so that it is flush with the casing 24 of the cabinet. The capillary tube .12 is connected to the evaporator at 13 (see Fig. 2) and the liquid underpressure is expanded in the evaporator in known fashion. The gas from the evaporator is taken at 14 through return line 15 to the compressor, as best shown in Fig. 4. The cut out portion 11 in the side of the cabinet conveniently houses the lines connecting the compressor and condenser with the evaporator and also the electrical conduits feeding the lamp 38 and motor 45. It also houses the conduits leading to the temperature control which will now be explained.

The temperature control indicated at 78 (Figs. 2 and 4) may consist of a switch comprising a pair of contacts operable from two bellows each communicating with a closed conduit leading to the evaporating chamber 430. The conduit 18 connected with one of these bellows is led upwardly through out out 11 and down through the chamber 43 so that the end 19a extends across the chamber 40 in the vicinity of the opening 55 through which the air from chamber 4|] returns to the chamber 43. The other conduit 80 follows the same general path but is connected in close contact with the evaporator 44. The bellows constructions are of known type and are not shown in detail. For the purpose of the present invention it will suffice to saythat the fluid within the closed systems including the conduits 15, 80 and the bellows within the temperature control 18, contracts or expands the bellows according to its volume which is dependent upon temperature, and this makes or breaks a connection between the compressor motor and the power source. Line 8| leading from the temperature control 18 to junction box 84 is suitably connected in the electrical circuit tov accomplish this purpose. The box 84 is connected to power through extension 85 which may be plugged-in to any suitable source of power.

The structure of the temperature control 18, which is not per se a part of the present invention and is therefore not shown in detail, is

I arranged so that when the temperature of the coil 44. of the evaporator goes above a predetermined point, say the freezing point of water, it will cut in the compressor by reason of the expansion of fluid within the conduit 80 andits connecting bellows, which expands the bellows, closes the set of contacts and makes connection between the compressor motor and power. Thus the compressor will remain in operation and the evaporator will continue to extract heat from the chamber 40. The other control member 19 with its exposed portion 19a withinthe air stream communicates with another bellows within the control I8 and when the temperature of the air comes down to a certain predetermined point the contraction of fluid within this bellows system is such that the bellows are retracted and the contacts actuated in the opposite direction to open the circuit and cut out the compressor motor. Thus a very nice control of the temperature within the chamber may be effected and the compressor is not started until such time as the temperature of the evaporator rises to a point where it no longer conveys heat from the interior of the cooler at the proper rate. It is advantageous to set the temperature responsive element on the evaporator at a point slightly above the freezing point of water so that frost on the evaporator will be melted prior to the time refrigerant is again expanded therein.

It may be desirable to cover one or more of the temperature sensitive elements 19 and with insulation in order to prevent them from being affected by the ambient temperature of the air surrounding the courses thereof which are not desired to be effective. I have shown tube I9 with such an insulation, so that the effective area thereof, 19a will be the only portion exposed to air currents.

I While the invention has been disclosed in relation to aspecific embodiment which might be characterized as a bottle cooler, it should be understood that the features of the invention can be utilized in other types of coolers and that they may be incorporated in various ways as will be apparent to a person skilled in the-art... Such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a cooling device, an insulated cabinet divided into a main compartment and an evaporator compartment, an evaporator in the evaporator compartment and means also therewithin for circulating air from one compartment to the other, access means at the topof the main compartment and separate conduits adjacent at least two sides of said access means, each of'said conduits having apertures opening downwardly toward the interior of the main compartment for directing the circulating air inwardly and downwardly over articles disposed within such main compartment.

2. In a cooling device, an insulated cabinet divided into compartments, a' grill in the first compartment elevated from the bottom thereof, a cooling unit in the second compartment and means also within the second compartment for circulating air from one compartment to the other, access means at the top of said first compartment, and means adjacent said access means for directing the circulating air inwardly and downwardly toward said grill.

3. In a cooling device, .an insulated cabinet divided into compartments, a grill in the first compartment elevated from the bottom thereof, a cooling unit in the second compartment and means also within the second compartment for circulating air from one compartment to the other, access means at the top of the first compartment and means adjacent thereto for directing the circulating air inwardly and downwardly toward the space below said grill, and articulated shelves disposed horizontally at the top of the first compartment, said shelves being perforated and being slidably arranged so that access to the space below said shelves and above the grill may be had.

' 4. In a cooler, in combination, an insulated cabinet, a cooling unit, means for obtaining ac cess to the interior of the cabinet from the top thereof, means for circulating air between the cooling unit and the interior of the-cabinet, conduits disposed above and at each side of the cabinet adjacent the access means, said conduits forming air-conducting passageways and having faces disposed at an angle to the walls of the cabinet, said faces being provided with apertures for directing aircirculated from the cooling unit downwardly toward said interior,

and a false bottom for said interior under which 'air may be re-circulated to said cooling unit.

5. In a cooler, an insulated cabinet comprising an article-receiving chamber accessible from. the top and a cooling unit chamber, an electrically operated cooling unit including an evaporator within said latter chamber, means for circulating air between said two chambers whereby a down-draft of air is directed over articles contained in the cabinet, and a pair of temperaturesensitive elements within the cabinet, one of said elements being disposed in close contact with said evaporator and the other in contact with the air stream, the element in contact with the evaporator being adapted and arranged to close the circuit of said cooling unit at a predetermined evaporator temperature and the element in contact with the air stream being adapted and arranged to open said circuit at a predetermined air temperature.

6. A cooling unit comprising an insulated cabinet, a cooling unit therewithin, access means at the top of said cabinet, passageways disposed below said access means and at the sides of the cabinet, an air circulating means within said cabinet for circulating air over said cooling unit and through said passageways, said passageways having perforate faces each disposed at an angle to the top and sides of the cabinet whereby air circulated therethrough is directed downwardly and inwardly toward the contents of said cabinet.

' ROLAND H. MONEY. 

